Patient Rights & Responsibilities

1. Each patient will receive a copy of the Rights and Responsibilities of Patients upon admission to The Stone Center. The rights of patients are posted in the Family Room, Recovery Room, and Patient Changing Area.

2. The patient has the right to know which Rules and Regulations of the Center apply to his/her conduct as a patient, including the patient’s responsibility to be considerate and respect the personal rights and private property of other patients, staff and the Center. The patient has the responsibility to follow the organization’s rules and regulations affecting care and conduct.

3. The patient has the right to obtain information as to any relationship of this Center to other healthcare and educational institutions insofar as his/her care is concerned. The patient has the right to obtain information as to the existence of any professional relationship among individuals, by name, who are treating him/her.

4. The patient has the right to be informed of services available in the Center, and of the names and professional status of the personnel providing and/or responsible for his/her care.

5. The patient has the right to examine and receive an explanation of fees and related charges regardless of source of payment, including the payment, fee deposit, and refund policy of the Center and any charges for services not covered by sources of third party payment.

6. The patient has the right to obtain from his/her physician complete current information concerning his/her diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis in terms the patient can be reasonably expected to understand. The patient has the right to participate in the development and implementation of his/her plan of care. He/she has the right to know by name, the Physician responsible for coordinating his/her care. The patient has the right to be involved in resolving conflicts about his/her care decisions.

7. The patient (or surrogate decision maker) has the right and is informed about his care, treatment and services while at the Center. In addition, the Center informs the patient or surrogate decision-maker about unanticipated outcomes of care, treatment, or services that relate to sentinel events considered reviewable by The Joint Commission.

8. The Center provides the patient or surrogate decision-maker with the information about the outcomes of care, treatment, or services that the patient needs in order to participate in current and future health care decisions.

9. The patient has the right to appropriate assessment and management of pain. The patient has the right to expect that his/her report(s) of pain will be believed and will receive effective pain management.

10. When a patient is unable to make decisions about his or her care, treatment, or services, the Center’s involves a surrogate decision-maker in making these decisions. When a surrogate decision-maker is responsible for making care, treatment, or services decisions, the organization respects the surrogate decision-maker’s right to refuse care, treatment, or services on the patient’s behalf, in accordance with laws and regulations.

11. The patient has the responsibility for his/her actions if he/she refuses treatment or does not follow instructions. The patient has the right to refuse treatment to the extent permitted by law, and to be informed of the medical consequences of his/her action. Refusal will be documented in the patient’s Medical Record.

12. The patient has the right to express grievances about the Center’s staff and governing authority and to recommend changes in policies and services, without fear of restraint, interference, coercion, discrimination or reprisal. The patient will contact the Chief Operating Officer or designee in reference to any grievances.

13. The patient has the right to be free from neglect, free from mental, physical and verbal abuse, free from exploitation and free from chemical, physical, and other types of restraints.

14. The patient has the right to be protected from cross infection.

15. The patient has the right to expect that all communications and records pertaining to his/her care should be treated as confidential. Information in the Medical Record will not be released to anyone outside the Center without the patient’s consent, unless required and permitted by law. The patient has the right to access information contained in his/her Medical Record within a reasonable time frame.

16. The patient has the right to receive considerate, compassionate and respectful care at all times and under all circumstances, with recognition of his/her personal privacy and dignity.

17. The patient has the right to treatment that is available at The Stone Center regardless of age, race, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, disability or sources of payment for care.

18. The patient has the right to exercise civil and religious liberties and is not deprived of any constitutional, civil and/or legal rights solely because of receiving services from the Center.

19. The patient has the right to express his/her psychosocial, spiritual, cultural beliefs, practices and personal values as long as they do not interfere with the planned course of medical treatment. The patients’ cultural, spiritual, psychosocial and personal values will be respected. No religious beliefs or practices will be imposed upon any patient.

20. The patient has the responsibility to provide to the best of his/her knowledge, accurate and complete information regarding his/her health.

21. The patient has the responsibility to report his/her pain; ask his/her physician what to expect regarding pain and pain management; and discuss pain relief and a pain management plan with his/her physician and nurse.

22. The patient has the responsibility to follow the provided treatment plan and/or Discharge Instructions.

23. The patient has the responsibility to keep appointments and notify the Center of any cancellation whenever possible.

25. The patient has the right to know that if he/she has an Advance Directive, the DNR section of his/her Advance Directive will not be effective while at The Stone Center.

26. The patient has the right to effective communication (this includes the needs of patients with vision, speech, language and cognitive impairments). Any information provided to the patient whether written or verbal is appropriate to the age, understanding and language of the patient. The patient has the right to translation services when necessary. The patient has the right to give permission for another person to receive/give information about his health care.

27. The patient has the right to know that if he/she has any concerns about patient care and/or safety within The Stone Center he/she can contact the Administration at 973-564-5642; if his/her concerns are not resolved the patient can contact the Joint Commissions at 800-994-6610.

28. The Center is owned in part by physicians. The physician who scheduled the patient to come to this Center and who will be performing the procedure(s) may have a financial interest in the The Stone Center. The patient has a choice to be treated at another facility of his/her choice. This disclosure is made in accordance with Federal Regulations.

29. The patient has the right to know that he/she may seek treatment at a health care service provider of his/her choosing. A listing of alternative health care service providers maybe found in the classified section of the telephone directory.

30. The patient has the right to know that if The Stone Center of NJ, LLC does not participate with his/her insurance carrier, part or all of the scheduled procedure will be considered “out of network”. If this is “out of network” then the patient will be personally responsible for the co-payment, co-insurance, or deductible, or other charges associated with such “out of network” services that are not covered by his/her insurance carrier.

31. To file any complaints you may directly contact the NJ Department of Health Complaint Hotline: